Mouth to Source http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog For the greatest journeys on Earth Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:44:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en Moving On http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/10/03/moving-on/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/10/03/moving-on/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:44:22 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=970 Dear readers,

Mouth to Source is moving on to another phase… a multi-user, multi-river, multi-blog format.

Our new site is based here: http://mouthtosource.net/rivers/

Please go there now and add a bookmark or subscribe to the feeds on The Mekong, The Sesan, The Sekong, Srepok and The Danube rivers.

If you’ve been wanting to blog your own river, now is your chance. Free blog hosting of any river, anywhere in the world.

Contact us at feed_at_mouthtosource_dot_net

Join us.

Mouth to Source | For the greatest journeys on Earth

]]> Dear readers,

Mouth to Source is moving on to another phase… a multi-user, multi-river, multi-blog format.

Our new site is based here: http://mouthtosource.net/rivers/

Please go there now and add a bookmark or subscribe to the feeds on The Mekong, The Sesan, The Sekong, Srepok and The Danube rivers.

If you’ve been wanting to blog your own river, now is your chance. Free blog hosting of any river, anywhere in the world.

Contact us at feed_at_mouthtosource_dot_net

Join us.

Mouth to Source | For the greatest journeys on Earth

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/10/03/moving-on/feed/ A Basin-Wide Approach to Hydropower Decision Making http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/a-basin-wide-approach-to-hydropower-decision-making/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/a-basin-wide-approach-to-hydropower-decision-making/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:07:24 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=968 Press Release from the Mekong River Commission

Vientiane, Lao PDR
25 September, 2008

The planning process involved in the development of hydropower dams in the Mekong region needs to include expertise and views from a wide range of interested parties, according to participants at a consultation meeting in Vientiane today.

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat opened the Regional Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on its Hydropower Programme in the Lao capital, bringing together over 200 representatives from governmental agencies, private sector companies and financing agencies, NGOs and civil society groups, international organisations and the donor agencies that support the MRC as development partners. The meeting runs from September 25-27.

According to MRC Joint Committee member for the Lao PDR, Mr Chantavong Saignasith, the MRC provides decision-makers in the four Lower Mekong countries, Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam, with a sound knowledge platform, enabling them to assess the gains and impacts of each hydropower proposal in a basin-wide context. This includes scientific input from many different fields and sources across the Mekong region, from village-level fisheries research to international navigation experience. The MRC can source and provide such data, and assesses plans for various power-generating scenarios through integrated modelling tools.

Presentations to the meeting were made by participants from all stakeholder sectors, including national electricity enterprises from the MRC member states, environmental advocacy groups, developers, and National Mekong Committees. Hydropower industry experts from China and outside Asia also attended the consultation.

Mr Chantavong said that hydroelectricity has long been recognised as one of the cleanest, most sustainable and, in the long run, least expensive methods of generating power. Acknowledging there are negative impacts associated with hydropower, he said it was therefore important that the Lower Mekong countries were able to study the benefits and costs associated with building dams before making decisions.

The MRC Hydropower Programme is being designed to assist with this decision-making process, and to help set up mechanisms that can make sure all the countries’ concerns are addressed as approved projects are implemented.

Jeremy Bird, Chief Executive Officer of the MRC Secretariat, said the creation of a framework for regional and cross-sectoral cooperation on hydropower gives great impetus to sustainable development in the Lower Mekong Basin. The MRC believes, said Mr Bird, that developing cooperation and dialogue between countries, at multiple levels of society, can help ensure the growth of the hydropower industry is managed in a way that conserves cultural values, environmental resources, and the livelihoods of the people that depend upon them.

]]> Press Release from the Mekong River Commission

Vientiane, Lao PDR
25 September, 2008

The planning process involved in the development of hydropower dams in the Mekong region needs to include expertise and views from a wide range of interested parties, according to participants at a consultation meeting in Vientiane today.

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat opened the Regional Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on its Hydropower Programme in the Lao capital, bringing together over 200 representatives from governmental agencies, private sector companies and financing agencies, NGOs and civil society groups, international organisations and the donor agencies that support the MRC as development partners. The meeting runs from September 25-27.

According to MRC Joint Committee member for the Lao PDR, Mr Chantavong Saignasith, the MRC provides decision-makers in the four Lower Mekong countries, Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam, with a sound knowledge platform, enabling them to assess the gains and impacts of each hydropower proposal in a basin-wide context. This includes scientific input from many different fields and sources across the Mekong region, from village-level fisheries research to international navigation experience. The MRC can source and provide such data, and assesses plans for various power-generating scenarios through integrated modelling tools.

Presentations to the meeting were made by participants from all stakeholder sectors, including national electricity enterprises from the MRC member states, environmental advocacy groups, developers, and National Mekong Committees. Hydropower industry experts from China and outside Asia also attended the consultation.

Mr Chantavong said that hydroelectricity has long been recognised as one of the cleanest, most sustainable and, in the long run, least expensive methods of generating power. Acknowledging there are negative impacts associated with hydropower, he said it was therefore important that the Lower Mekong countries were able to study the benefits and costs associated with building dams before making decisions.

The MRC Hydropower Programme is being designed to assist with this decision-making process, and to help set up mechanisms that can make sure all the countries’ concerns are addressed as approved projects are implemented.

Jeremy Bird, Chief Executive Officer of the MRC Secretariat, said the creation of a framework for regional and cross-sectoral cooperation on hydropower gives great impetus to sustainable development in the Lower Mekong Basin. The MRC believes, said Mr Bird, that developing cooperation and dialogue between countries, at multiple levels of society, can help ensure the growth of the hydropower industry is managed in a way that conserves cultural values, environmental resources, and the livelihoods of the people that depend upon them.

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/a-basin-wide-approach-to-hydropower-decision-making/feed/ Questioning the MRC’s “Sustainable hydropower development” http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/questioning-the-mrcs-sustainable-hydropower-development/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/questioning-the-mrcs-sustainable-hydropower-development/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:37:58 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=966 Statement by Rivers Coalition in Cambodia and The Thai Peoples Network for Mekong

24 September 2008

Extensive hydropower development continues to threaten the ecological integrity of the Mekong River Basin almost a year after 201 organizations and individuals from 30 countries called on the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to sound the alarm on the serious consequence of hydropower dam development on the lower Mekong River. The MRC has continued to fail in promoting the findings of its own scientific research to the public and to the region’s governments that points towards the fact that extensive hydropower development will threaten the river ecosystems and the livelihoods of riparian communities.

Instead, the MRC has delayed action and only initiated further research, planning exercises, and dialogues, leaving a vacuum of accountability that has allowed hydropower developers to take their projects forward unchallenged.

It is now time that the MRC’s role is reviewed to ensure it is acting in the manner befitting an objective, scientific river basin management organization that it was set up to be. An important first step would be for the MRC to publicly call for a dam development moratorium until scientific evidence of the individual and cumulative impacts of dam development is in the public domain and all party stakeholders including public consensus has been achieved on the best way forward. Otherwise, the MRC’s role in the future is in doubt.

Unfortunately, historical precedent indicates that reform may be beyond the MRC. The MRC’s precursors – known as the Mekong Committee from the 1950s until the Mekong Secretariat in 1994 – have actually supported damming the Mekong River’s mainstream and major tributaries by developing various hydropower masterplans.

The MRC’s recent behind-closed-doors role in advising the Lao government on the Don Sahong Dam would suggest that little has changed; the MRC has yet to publicly release its study of the Don Sahong’s draft Environmental Impact Assessment report, despite a request by letter from civil society in March 2008.

That the MRC continues to withhold scientific information of critical interest to the public interest is of serious concern, and undermines the trust that it hopes to build with civil society groups. The only way for the MRC to prove that it is capable of generating objective scientific data is to open its results and conclusions to public scrutiny. The MRC’s unwillingness to do so is beyond comprehension, but not beyond suspicion.

Throughout the region, the many hydropower projects now planned for the Mekong basin are justified by electricity planning processes that are kept behind closed doors whcih are biased towards developing large power projects. These planning processes have not promoted energy efficiency, demand side management measures, nor renewable and decentralized energy technologies to their full potential. Although environmentally sustainable and socially desirable solutions to meeting the Mekong region’s energy needs do exist, they are not being considered in any regional energy plan at the expense of promoting the region’s financial economy.

The MRC has declared itself a supporter of “sustainable hydropower development”, but has failed to define the term or even to ensure compliance to its 1995 Mekong Agreement, as demonstrated by the suffering caused by Vietnam’s hydropower dams on the Sesan River to downstream communities in Cambodia and its failure to adhere to its commitment “to make every effort to avoid, minimize and mitigate harmful effects (Article 7).” Implementation of the 1995 Mekong Agreement together with globally recognized best-practice standards for energy and water sector development is urgently needed. The World Commission on Dams framework, which provides a comprehensive set of principles and guidelines from planning to decommissioning of dam projects, can help to better define how hydropower development should occur.

Large hydropower dams – especially on the Mekong River’s mainstream – reflect an outdated development model. In the Mekong region and around the world, the larger body of evidence points to the unsustainable cost of large dam development and the costs inflicted on communities once dependent on these rivers

The experience of hydropower throughout the Mekong Region has been that of unsustainable and unjust development. From Chiang Khong in Northern Thailand to Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri Provinces in Cambodia, tens of thousands of dam-affected villagers have suffered the loss of their fisheries, irregular water flows, poor water quality, and the loss of their rivers biodiversity without consultation, compensation or redress.

The Mekong River is a fisheries-rich river on which millions of people living under the poverty line depend for their food security; and that is also a significant contributor to the region’s economy. Before moving forward with its Hydropower Programme, the MRC - and its funders - must publicly declare the standards that they will work to uphold and how they will be clearly accountable to the regional public. Only, once standards are declared and there is review and recognition of the MRC’s past failures, can the MRC begin working towards the sustainable river management urgently needed by the millions who rely on the river as their lifeblood.

For more information, please contact:

The Rivers Coalition in Cambodia (RCC):
• Mr. Chhith Sam Ath, Executive Director of NGO Forum, T: +855 012928585 or E: samath_at_ngoforum.org.kh
• Mr. Tep Bunnarith, Executive Director of CEPA, T: +855 12895624 or E: tep_at_cepa-cambodia.org
• Mr. Mak Sithirith, Executive Director of FACT, T: +855 12906279 or E: maksithirith_at_yahoo.com
• Mr. Kim Sangha, Coordinator of 3SPN, T: +855 12629221 or E: sesan_at_online.com.kh

Thai People’s Network for Mekong (TPNM):
• Ms. Pianporn Deetes, Living River Siam (SEARIN) : T: +66 081-4220111
Email: pai_at_loxinfo.co.th
• Mr. Montree Chantawong, Foundation for Ecological Recovery (FER): T: +66 081950-0560 or Email: nokmontree_at_hotmail.com

]]> Statement by Rivers Coalition in Cambodia and The Thai Peoples Network for Mekong

24 September 2008

Extensive hydropower development continues to threaten the ecological integrity of the Mekong River Basin almost a year after 201 organizations and individuals from 30 countries called on the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to sound the alarm on the serious consequence of hydropower dam development on the lower Mekong River. The MRC has continued to fail in promoting the findings of its own scientific research to the public and to the region’s governments that points towards the fact that extensive hydropower development will threaten the river ecosystems and the livelihoods of riparian communities.

Instead, the MRC has delayed action and only initiated further research, planning exercises, and dialogues, leaving a vacuum of accountability that has allowed hydropower developers to take their projects forward unchallenged.

It is now time that the MRC’s role is reviewed to ensure it is acting in the manner befitting an objective, scientific river basin management organization that it was set up to be. An important first step would be for the MRC to publicly call for a dam development moratorium until scientific evidence of the individual and cumulative impacts of dam development is in the public domain and all party stakeholders including public consensus has been achieved on the best way forward. Otherwise, the MRC’s role in the future is in doubt.

Unfortunately, historical precedent indicates that reform may be beyond the MRC. The MRC’s precursors – known as the Mekong Committee from the 1950s until the Mekong Secretariat in 1994 – have actually supported damming the Mekong River’s mainstream and major tributaries by developing various hydropower masterplans.

The MRC’s recent behind-closed-doors role in advising the Lao government on the Don Sahong Dam would suggest that little has changed; the MRC has yet to publicly release its study of the Don Sahong’s draft Environmental Impact Assessment report, despite a request by letter from civil society in March 2008.

That the MRC continues to withhold scientific information of critical interest to the public interest is of serious concern, and undermines the trust that it hopes to build with civil society groups. The only way for the MRC to prove that it is capable of generating objective scientific data is to open its results and conclusions to public scrutiny. The MRC’s unwillingness to do so is beyond comprehension, but not beyond suspicion.

Throughout the region, the many hydropower projects now planned for the Mekong basin are justified by electricity planning processes that are kept behind closed doors whcih are biased towards developing large power projects. These planning processes have not promoted energy efficiency, demand side management measures, nor renewable and decentralized energy technologies to their full potential. Although environmentally sustainable and socially desirable solutions to meeting the Mekong region’s energy needs do exist, they are not being considered in any regional energy plan at the expense of promoting the region’s financial economy.

The MRC has declared itself a supporter of “sustainable hydropower development”, but has failed to define the term or even to ensure compliance to its 1995 Mekong Agreement, as demonstrated by the suffering caused by Vietnam’s hydropower dams on the Sesan River to downstream communities in Cambodia and its failure to adhere to its commitment “to make every effort to avoid, minimize and mitigate harmful effects (Article 7).” Implementation of the 1995 Mekong Agreement together with globally recognized best-practice standards for energy and water sector development is urgently needed. The World Commission on Dams framework, which provides a comprehensive set of principles and guidelines from planning to decommissioning of dam projects, can help to better define how hydropower development should occur.

Large hydropower dams – especially on the Mekong River’s mainstream – reflect an outdated development model. In the Mekong region and around the world, the larger body of evidence points to the unsustainable cost of large dam development and the costs inflicted on communities once dependent on these rivers

The experience of hydropower throughout the Mekong Region has been that of unsustainable and unjust development. From Chiang Khong in Northern Thailand to Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri Provinces in Cambodia, tens of thousands of dam-affected villagers have suffered the loss of their fisheries, irregular water flows, poor water quality, and the loss of their rivers biodiversity without consultation, compensation or redress.

The Mekong River is a fisheries-rich river on which millions of people living under the poverty line depend for their food security; and that is also a significant contributor to the region’s economy. Before moving forward with its Hydropower Programme, the MRC - and its funders - must publicly declare the standards that they will work to uphold and how they will be clearly accountable to the regional public. Only, once standards are declared and there is review and recognition of the MRC’s past failures, can the MRC begin working towards the sustainable river management urgently needed by the millions who rely on the river as their lifeblood.

For more information, please contact:

The Rivers Coalition in Cambodia (RCC):
• Mr. Chhith Sam Ath, Executive Director of NGO Forum, T: +855 012928585 or E: samath_at_ngoforum.org.kh
• Mr. Tep Bunnarith, Executive Director of CEPA, T: +855 12895624 or E: tep_at_cepa-cambodia.org
• Mr. Mak Sithirith, Executive Director of FACT, T: +855 12906279 or E: maksithirith_at_yahoo.com
• Mr. Kim Sangha, Coordinator of 3SPN, T: +855 12629221 or E: sesan_at_online.com.kh

Thai People’s Network for Mekong (TPNM):
• Ms. Pianporn Deetes, Living River Siam (SEARIN) : T: +66 081-4220111
Email: pai_at_loxinfo.co.th
• Mr. Montree Chantawong, Foundation for Ecological Recovery (FER): T: +66 081950-0560 or Email: nokmontree_at_hotmail.com

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/questioning-the-mrcs-sustainable-hydropower-development/feed/ Mekong countries launch hydropower consultation http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/mekong-countries-launch-hydropower-consultation/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/mekong-countries-launch-hydropower-consultation/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:22:53 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=964 Xinhua - China
Countries along the Mekong River launched a consultation meeting for the regional Mekong Hydropower Program platform here on Thursday, aiming to shape a way for the river’s future hydropower development.

All the four member countries of the hosting Mekong River Commission (MRC), Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and MRC’s dialogue partner China and other countries’ observers, will discuss during the three-day meeting for achieving a future dialogue mode on important aspects of hydropower development that require an integrated basin perspective. …

Read article…

Visit Xinhuanet Online

]]> Xinhua - China
Countries along the Mekong River launched a consultation meeting for the regional Mekong Hydropower Program platform here on Thursday, aiming to shape a way for the river’s future hydropower development.

All the four member countries of the hosting Mekong River Commission (MRC), Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and MRC’s dialogue partner China and other countries’ observers, will discuss during the three-day meeting for achieving a future dialogue mode on important aspects of hydropower development that require an integrated basin perspective. …

Read article…

Visit Xinhuanet Online

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/25/mekong-countries-launch-hydropower-consultation/feed/ Vietnam: Mekong Landslides Escalate In Danger http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/16/vietnam-mekong-landslides-escalate-in-danger/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/16/vietnam-mekong-landslides-escalate-in-danger/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:31:49 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=961 Bernama - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 16 Sept
Landslides in the Mekong River Delta are becoming a severe problem, the Vietnam news agency reported Tuesday quoting officials at the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC) as saying.

CCFSC said that this year landslides frequently occurred in the Mekong Delta provinces of Dong Thap, An Giang, and Vinh Long as well as Can Tho City. …

Read article..

Visit Bernama | Malaysia

]]> Bernama - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 16 Sept
Landslides in the Mekong River Delta are becoming a severe problem, the Vietnam news agency reported Tuesday quoting officials at the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC) as saying.

CCFSC said that this year landslides frequently occurred in the Mekong Delta provinces of Dong Thap, An Giang, and Vinh Long as well as Can Tho City. …

Read article..

Visit Bernama | Malaysia

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/16/vietnam-mekong-landslides-escalate-in-danger/feed/ Expert calls for cooperation http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/16/expert-calls-for-cooperation/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/16/expert-calls-for-cooperation/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:02:53 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=958 Nation Multimedia - Bangkok,Thailand | Pongphon Sarnsmak
China and other Asian countries must underscore the need for integrated management of the Mekong River basin.

They must address accelerated depletion, environmental degradation, threats to biodiversity and tensions among multiple users by installing massive inter river water transfer projects, an environmental expert said.

Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi based Centre for Policy Research, said the massive inter water transfer projects in the Mekong are damaging the delicate ecosystem. …

Read article..

Visit The Nation Online

]]> Nation Multimedia - Bangkok,Thailand | Pongphon Sarnsmak
China and other Asian countries must underscore the need for integrated management of the Mekong River basin.

They must address accelerated depletion, environmental degradation, threats to biodiversity and tensions among multiple users by installing massive inter river water transfer projects, an environmental expert said.

Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi based Centre for Policy Research, said the massive inter water transfer projects in the Mekong are damaging the delicate ecosystem. …

Read article..

Visit The Nation Online

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/16/expert-calls-for-cooperation/feed/ Port of no return http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/13/port-of-no-return/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/13/port-of-no-return/#comments Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:13:00 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/13/port-of-no-return/ Chiang Saen project snags as Chinese investment streaks ahead in Laos, write Subin Khuenkaew and Naowarat Suksamran in Chiang Rai

Thailand has yet to make its northern port of Chiang Saen on the Mekong river ready for the rapid development enjoyed by other areas around the Golden Triangle.

While Chinese businessmen have invested in more than 30 business, housing and entertainment projects on the Lao side opposite Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen district, the atmosphere in Thailand is described by local entrepreneurs as quiet. …

Read article…

Visit The Bangkok Post Online

]]> Chiang Saen project snags as Chinese investment streaks ahead in Laos, write Subin Khuenkaew and Naowarat Suksamran in Chiang Rai

Thailand has yet to make its northern port of Chiang Saen on the Mekong river ready for the rapid development enjoyed by other areas around the Golden Triangle.

While Chinese businessmen have invested in more than 30 business, housing and entertainment projects on the Lao side opposite Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen district, the atmosphere in Thailand is described by local entrepreneurs as quiet. …

Read article…

Visit The Bangkok Post Online

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/13/port-of-no-return/feed/ Mekong Delta faces ports shortage http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/12/mekong-delta-faces-ports-shortage/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/12/mekong-delta-faces-ports-shortage/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:53:51 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=950 VietNamNet Bridge – Twenty per cent of the existing ports and 35 per cent of wharves in the Mekong Delta are not fit for operation, according to the statistics of the Portcoast Consultant Corporation — one of the leading waterway advisory companies in Vietnam. …

Read article…

Visit VietnamNet Bridge Online

]]> VietNamNet Bridge – Twenty per cent of the existing ports and 35 per cent of wharves in the Mekong Delta are not fit for operation, according to the statistics of the Portcoast Consultant Corporation — one of the leading waterway advisory companies in Vietnam. …

Read article…

Visit VietnamNet Bridge Online

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/12/mekong-delta-faces-ports-shortage/feed/ Preserving the wetlands http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/11/preserving-the-wetlands/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/11/preserving-the-wetlands/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:12:04 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=945 Conservation requires community involvement, says Ramsar laureate | Bangkok Post - Thailand

Anyone visiting the office of Assoc Prof Sansanee Chooweaw, laureate of this year’s Ramsar Award, will be struck by her huge collection of owl-shaped dolls in various colours and materials. On the wall is a big poster of a colourful kingfisher.

”I like kingfishers. It is a nok nam _ wetland bird,” said Sansanee, also a lecturer at Mahidol University’s faculty of environment and resource studies. …

Read article…

Visit The Bangkok Post Online

Visit Ramsar.Org

]]> Conservation requires community involvement, says Ramsar laureate | Bangkok Post - Thailand

Anyone visiting the office of Assoc Prof Sansanee Chooweaw, laureate of this year’s Ramsar Award, will be struck by her huge collection of owl-shaped dolls in various colours and materials. On the wall is a big poster of a colourful kingfisher.

”I like kingfishers. It is a nok nam _ wetland bird,” said Sansanee, also a lecturer at Mahidol University’s faculty of environment and resource studies. …

Read article…

Visit The Bangkok Post Online

Visit Ramsar.Org

]]> http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/11/preserving-the-wetlands/feed/ DANISH GRANT KEEPS MEKONG RIVER COMMISSION FISHERIES PROGRAMME AFLOAT http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/11/danish-grant-keeps-mekong-river-commission-fisheries-programme-afloat/ http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/2008/09/11/danish-grant-keeps-mekong-river-commission-fisheries-programme-afloat/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:00:22 +0000 admin http://www.mouthtosource.net/waterlog/?p=943 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark | Embassy of Denmark, Hanoi

A new Danish grant of 3.6 million USD to MRC Fisheries Programme in 2009-2010 will enable the MRC to continue to facilitate sustainable development of fisheries in the Mekong River Basin and to analyze the effects to fisheries of major hydro power investments in the Basin.

The new Danish grants follows up a grant of 30 million DKK or 6 million USD for the period 2005-2008 and ensures that the MRC Fisheries Programme can continue its activities which has become ever more important in light of the ongoing and planned major hydro power and dam investments in the Mekong River basin.

The implementation of the many planned major hydro power and dam projects in the Mekong Basin has major impact on the Mekong River fisheries. While the Mekong fishery today is in relatively good condition, the warning signs of disruption are clear. Loss of habitat, barriers to migration and changes to the seasonal pulse of the river are the main risk to fish stocks and fisheries stability. Such threats stem from competing demands on the use of the Mekong’s waters, and the most far-reaching one is the use of the Mekong water resources for hydro power.

The MRC Fisheries Programme will increase research and analysis of the effects on fisheries of these investments in order to enable decision makers to take informed decisions in regard to hydro power and dam projects.

The overall objective of the MRC Fisheries Programme is to contribute to a coordinated and sustainable development, utilisation and protection of the fisheries resources of the Mekong River at local, national and regional levels, which is of key importance to the livelihoods of the poor population in the entire Mekong Region.

The programme has helped strengthen information systems and awareness of the biological and socio-economic factors of importance for a sustainable utilisation and protection of the fisheries resources in the Mekong River, and works to build capacity and introduce sustainable fisheries management methods.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 by an agreement between the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam with the purpose of jointly managing their shared water resources and developing the economic potential of the river. The MRC is a unique, treaty-based inter-governmental cooperation whose importance it is not only limited to the use of natural resources, but also to the political stability in a traditionally turbulent region.

Denmark is currently the largest donor to the Mekong River Commission.

In April 2007 Denmark and Vietnam took the initiative to call for a high-level International Conference on the Mekong River Commission to discuss ways to strengthen the Mekong River Commission to play a stronger role in the sustainable development of water and related resources in the Mekong Basin, in collaboration with national, regional and international partners in order to reduce poverty in the Mekong region. The Conference adopted a Joint Statement on the Mekong River Commission that sets out the agreed efforts to strengthen the organisation.

Read Source article…

Visit Embassy of Denmark, Hanoi, Vietnam

]]> Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark | Embassy of Denmark, Hanoi

A new Danish grant of 3.6 million USD to MRC Fisheries Programme in 2009-2010 will enable the MRC to continue to facilitate sustainable development of fisheries in the Mekong River Basin and to analyze the effects to fisheries of major hydro power investments in the Basin.

The new Danish grants follows up a grant of 30 million DKK or 6 million USD for the period 2005-2008 and ensures that the MRC Fisheries Programme can continue its activities which has become ever more important in light of the ongoing and planned major hydro power and dam investments in the Mekong River basin.

The implementation of the many planned major hydro power and dam projects in the Mekong Basin has major impact on the Mekong River fisheries. While the Mekong fishery today is in relatively good condition, the warning signs of disruption are clear. Loss of habitat, barriers to migration and changes to the seasonal pulse of the river are the main risk to fish stocks and fisheries stability. Such threats stem from competing demands on the use of the Mekong’s waters, and the most far-reaching one is the use of the Mekong water resources for hydro power.

The MRC Fisheries Programme will increase research and analysis of the effects on fisheries of these investments in order to enable decision makers to take informed decisions in regard to hydro power and dam projects.

The overall objective of the MRC Fisheries Programme is to contribute to a coordinated and sustainable development, utilisation and protection of the fisheries resources of the Mekong River at local, national and regional levels, which is of key importance to the livelihoods of the poor population in the entire Mekong Region.

The programme has helped strengthen information systems and awareness of the biological and socio-economic factors of importance for a sustainable utilisation and protection of the fisheries resources in the Mekong River, and works to build capacity and introduce sustainable fisheries management methods.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 by an agreement between the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam with the purpose of jointly managing their shared water resources and developing the economic potential of the river. The MRC is a unique, treaty-based inter-governmental cooperation whose importance it is not only limited to the use of natural resources, but also to the political stability in a traditionally turbulent region.

Denmark is currently the largest donor to the Mekong River Commission.

In April 2007 Denmark and Vietnam took the initiative to call for a high-level International Conference on the Mekong River Commission to discuss ways to strengthen the Mekong River Commission to play a stronger role in the sustainable development of water and related resources in the Mekong Basin, in collaboration with national, regional and international partners in order to reduce poverty in the Mekong region. The Conference adopted a Joint Statement on the Mekong River Commission that sets out the agreed efforts to strengthen the organisation.

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Visit Embassy of Denmark, Hanoi, Vietnam

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